New president of the Southern Baptist Convention?

[demondeacfreak]

Link.

"The Rev. Fred Luter II of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., is set to become the first ever African-American president of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, as he is so far the only candidate for the election in June."

Fred Luter was nominated to his current position as an SBC vice-president by Danny Akin, the president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is located on the original campus of Wake Forest University. He is the first African-American to be a vice president in the SBC.

Obviously the SBC has a long history of racism, so it is good to see changes being made. A few decades ago 95% of SBC membership was white, today that number is closer to 80%. Things seem to be moving in the right direction.

 

[HeavyPetter]

Probably just means that white people are leaving SBC congregations.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Probably just means that white people are leaving SBC congregations.

There is some truth to this.

Still pretty significant.

 

[SCDeac]

I don't know. I've attended several SBC churches over the years and over that time I've seen them become more and more integrated. Not that they resemble an AME church but they're not lily white anymore either. It's helped that some of the older generations who grew up with segregation are dying off.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

Well...the SBC and African American Baptists both tend to be anti-gay so they have that. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy.

 

[Deacfreak07]

Well...the SBC and African American Baptists both tend to be anti-gay so they have that. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy.

Also some truth to this. I would offer that the issue of male leadership in the church has been more of a wagon-circling issue for the SBC recently. There are plenty of Protestant groups that aren't friendly with the LGBT community, but more and more are accepting female clergy. There have been a few schisms within the Baptist Church around this issue.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

FWIW the SBC still believes that drinking alcohol is a sin (despite the fact that Jesus' first miracle was turning eater into wine).

 

[SCDeac]

FWIW the SBC still believes that drinking alcohol is a sin (despite the fact that Jesus' first miracle was turning eater into wine).

Holy shit! A church would dare to look down on drinking booze. Shocking! What's next? Are you going to tell me that that frown on gambling?

On a lighter note....



There are three truths in life:
Jewish people do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith.
Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store.

 

[94Deac]

This should make Wednesday's Bible Study meeting rather interesting. I'll report back on whatever I hear.

 

[IamThunderbolt]

FWIW the SBC still believes that drinking alcohol is a sin (despite the fact that Jesus' first miracle was turning eater into wine).

yes and no. the SBC isn't a governing body like the United Methodist Church or the various Presbyterian denominations - it is a voluntary association formed primarily to pool resources for missions and education. One of the cornerstones of the Baptist denomination is the autonomy of the local congregation - so you will have some Baptist Churches that promote teetotalism and some that meet in bars on Sunday mornings and hold mid week times to drink and discuss theology together.

 

[Shorty]

yes and no. the SBC isn't a governing body like the United Methodist Church or the various Presbyterian denominations - it is a voluntary association formed primarily to pool resources for missions and education. One of the cornerstones of the Baptist denomination is the autonomy of the local congregation - so you will have some Baptist Churches that promote teetotalism and s[B]ome that meet in bars on Sunday mornings and hold mid week times to drink and discuss theology together.

[/B]

Do you have to actually know any theology or can you just be a social member of those churches?

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

yes and no. the SBC isn't a governing body like the United Methodist Church or the various Presbyterian denominations - it is a voluntary association formed primarily to pool resources for missions and education. One of the cornerstones of the Baptist denomination is the autonomy of the local congregation - so you will have some Baptist Churches that promote teetotalism and some that meet in bars on Sunday mornings and hold mid week times to drink and discuss theology together.

The SBC as representative of thousands of Southern Baptist Churches has made tons of resolutions through out the years opposing the use of alcohol as a beverage (and continues to stand by those resolutions).

 

[IamThunderbolt]

true, but it's not binding, neither is it part of the Baptist Faith & Message (the closest thing to a theological creed the SBC has), which is why i said yes and no. The SBC is traditionally anti all alcohol, although most churches in reality work on a drunkeness is bad, drinking is ok model.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

true, but it's not binding, neither is it part of the Baptist Faith & Message (the closest thing to a theological creed the SBC has), which is why i said yes and no. The SBC is traditionally anti all alcohol, although most churches in reality work on a drunkeness is bad, drinking is ok model.

You definitely have more knowledge about this than I do but the SBC church I attended a few times in high school made it clear that real Southern Baptists were teetotalers. That may have more to do with the fact that it was as fundamentalist of a church as they come but I got the impression most SBC churches were similar. Again, I could have been wrong and things may have changed (it was about 20 years ago)

 

[IamThunderbolt]

no doubt - a lot of churches draw weird lines in the sand about who is the REAL Baptists (or Christians), whether the "real" ones only use the KJV, or don't drink, or only vote republican, whatever. I've never been in an SBC church that had as hard a line about drinking as that (although I do know some - and some that are even more hardline about other things). Now many, many members were teetotalers, but most of them viewed it as a personal choice, and while they saw danger in any use of alcohol, didn't see their own, personal ban on drinking as normative for all people.

 

[SkinsNDeacs]

no doubt - a lot of churches draw weird lines in the sand about who is the REAL Baptists (or Christians), whether the "real" ones only use the KJV, or don't drink, or only vote republican, whatever. I've never been in an SBC church that had as hard a line about drinking as that (although I do know some - and some that are even more hardline about other things). Now many, many members were teetotalers, but most of them viewed it as a personal choice, and while they saw danger in any use of alcohol, didn't see their own, personal ban on drinking as normative for all people.

Fair enough

Man...I forgot about the KJV hardliners. Good grief.

 

[HeavyPetter]

I've seen Southern Baptists campaign pretty openly against liquor by the drink laws. IOW, all drinking, by anybody is bad.

 

[Deacfreak07]

true, but it's not binding, neither is it part of the Baptist Faith & Message (the closest thing to a theological creed the SBC has), which is why i said yes and no. The SBC is traditionally anti all alcohol, although most churches in reality work on a drunkeness is bad, drinking is ok model.

Not binding for churches, but the Baptist Faith and Message has pretty much made fundamentalism the norm in Seminaries and missionary work. Which ultimately defines churches as much as an orthodox doctrine. Within 10-20 years or so, you will not have SBC educated ministers that were not required to agree with the BF&M.

 

[IamThunderbolt]

This is true, which is why I said that it's the closest thing to a creed in Baptistdom. My point was that alcohol is not mentioned in the BF&M.

 

[94Deac]

In the Old Testament, David refuses to defile himself by drinking the king's wine. That's not moderation- that's abstention. And that is what all Christians should follow. Many times, the pro-alcohol pundits in various iterations of the SBC will respond with the New Testament story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. However there is some disagreement among scholars as to how accurate the translations and interpretations are as to whether Jesus actually turned the water into what we know as wine. For my peace of mind, I cannot believe that Jesus, imbued with the power of God, would convert water into something that steals men's minds and souls and precipitates sinful thoughts and acts. If sin begins in the mind, I can't believe that Jesus would create something that we all know, as sinners, can loosen inhibitions and cause us to cast aside Jesus' teachings and make his voice in our souls somewhat harder to hear.